Jon Favreau on Dealing with His Friends’ Breakups: “My wife loves to make friends with all the people that my friends break up with,” said Favreau. “So we have - it’s like those Thanksgiving dinners where the one brother shifts and then it’s the other sibling that doesn’t talk to the other sibling. [Someone] has the late shift… So the families don’t meet.
We’ve outlasted a lot of couples. But usually I just don’t ask, don’t tell. If I don’t know anything, then I don’t have to lie. I tend not to talk about whatever they’re going through, which is unfair because if you see Swingers, you can see that all I want to talk about is what I’m going through. But I take after my grandma now where I just don’t talk about it and start saying about how this person did this or that. I talk about how good the weather is.”
The Secret to His Success: How has he managed to make his marriage last in Hollywood, a very difficult climate for relationships? “I allow her to have male masseuses and I don’t ask any questions. That’s good. It helps show that I’m open. And as far as the Hollywood part of it, I think it’s difficult in Hollywood because Hollywood allows you to maintain your adolescence as long as you’d like to. Especially if you have any degree of fame or success in Hollywood, you don’t get closed off to going out and experiencing nightlife like a younger person would. You’re sort of given the pass. You’re not treated like you’re the old guy in the club. I’m 39 now and I would feel very comfortable being out there. I remember when I was young and I’d see a 39-year-old in a club I’d be like, ‘Who’s the old guy here? I don’t want to be that guy.’ But in Hollywood, you can keep going until you’re in your ’50s. If you’re a cool enough guy on screen, you’re sort of given that pass. And so it doesn’t force you to make those decisions.
Also, if your career takes you all around the world, it’s very easy to avoid growing up. So I think that if you don’t get in on it, you can easily find yourself past your breeding years and having not had the opportunity to really explore that. I know that for me, it’s really informed my career and my whole life. I’m happier now than I ever have been. Some of it has to do with the satisfaction I have in my work, but I have to say that I sort of accomplished what I need to to make myself feel good about my work and to be comfortable financially. Now it’s really about being a good father and appreciating it while I have it. That’s why it’s so hard for me to be an actor. I don’t want to fly around. I went to Chicago; they made it very easy for me. I went out there for a week, my wife came for half of it, she went home, I got home and saw the kids. I can’t go away for three months. I’ll only direct movies in town. I might miss opportunities for it.”
